Cut the Bullsht
by QueenVictoria88
Summary: Bruce has to ask Jason for a favor, & Jason is...well very Jason "Bruce, you want something from me, be honest and you'll get it. You're here because…" He waves his hand enticingly for Bruce to continue." "Because Barbara, Dick and Tim refuse to give me your impressively encrypted number as for some promise they made to you. And Gotham doesn't have time for me to crack it myself."


After a few back alleys, needing most of his strength to pry a hidden door open, then climbing a rusted and flaking with each fragment of motion, metal staircase; Batman finally crosses over the threshold to Jason's safe house for the first time. Or what was passing as a hide out, which was not necessarily safe or house-like, but yet able to protect one's desired location. Batman had picked the lock on the door with ease. Given how difficult it was to find this place and who was on the other side with how much artillery he was packing, a simple lock made sense. He opens the door and upon entering is shockingly greeted by the horrific site of a gigantic Batman poster, exorbitant like a crucifix, staring down on him from the wall. He turns to his right and is just as astounded to see the decor of the room having a theme as he takes a gander over the others. Wild Batman paraphernalia that usually is sold by shady street vendors plastered all over the walls. Blinking is all Batman manages to do.

Jason slithers out from seemingly nowhere, "What…? You don't like it?" There is a coy sense to the raspy voice that was clearing itself from just having finished a cigarette. Even though he's dressed in most of his Red Hood gear minus the jacket and hood, it is evident he's recently had a shower.

"… Hm." Batman replies unsurprisingly as it is his go to response so often heard it sounds like a recording rather than authentic of the moment.

"I stare at you all the time, makes me feel as if you still care." Jason's sarcastic tongue delivers perfectly.

Batman an awkward statue in the room. "Jason."

Jason changes the energy by dropping the act. "Psht, relax, Alfred told me you were coming. I stole these last night to see if I could freak you out. "

"Stole them." Again not surprising that is the fragment he zeroes in on. It has been months since the ostracized vigilante and Gotham's precious defender of the night have been in contact or physically in the same five feet of one another.

"I'll give 'em back, but the slightly less stoic look on your face and minuscule twitch in your shoulder… worth it!" The grin wrapping around Jason's face is one Bruce hasn't seen in too long.

"I'm sure." He grunts.

"Will you lighten up?" Jason unfolds his arms as he walks over to the nearby table and pulls out a chair motioning for Batman to sit.

"With posters of myself staring at me, unlikely." Batman complies and folds down to the chair with perfect posture.

"Ha. Welcome to how it feels to be in the same room as you." Jason slumps back comfortably in the chair opposite Batman. "I'd off you something to—"

"—No, thank you."

"Yeah, don't really have much."

Batman inhales ever so slightly as he removes his cowl. It is only then apparent his actual emotions with his furrowed brow weighing heavily over a face that Jason has memorized. One of the faces that haunt him. but for different reasons than all the other faces that haunt him. This is Bruce. Not Bruce Wayne, the public figure. Not Batman, the hardened Knight. This is Bruce, the one who absorbs stray children at an alarming rate to try and make a difference. The man who in the same sentence about his company's share holdings and the stock market, will discuss the equalization of the classes in Gotham and fortifying education funding for all, especially low income neighborhoods. This is the complex son of a bitch that Jason can't ever get away from.

Jason decides to cut to the point as seeing this emotion on Bruce is rare and Jason doesn't do well with another's emotions. especially Bruce. "So Arkham, you need help?" He asks as he places his hands on the table and interlaces his fingers as if he's pleased by the power shift.

"Yes."

Jason's head tilts to the side with delight "I am ecstatic that you forced yourself to come to my safe house just to ask me that. I really am. I mean, phones are just so impersonal."

"I don't have your number." Bruce says with a hint of impatience.

"Oh? Do go on." He taunts as a hand comes up from the table and curls under his chin for him to rest his head on.

"Stop."

Jason sits back and folds his arms with entitlement. "Bruce, you want something from me, be honest and you'll get it. You're here because…" He waves his hand enticingly for Bruce to continue.

There's a low grunt from Bruce. He sighs quickly deciding to not make this take any longer than it has to. He knows Jason, or this Jason, he knows this chaos well. He was prepared for hoops, games, banter. etc because he's Batman asking a favor of the abandoned child. The one who's holding a grudge larger than Russia and will go to lengths around the sun to have his jollies. "Because Barbara, Dick and Tim refuse to give me your impressively encrypted number as for some promise they made to you. And Gotham doesn't have time for me to crack it myself."

"Loyalty is a funny thing isn't it?" *Ding* First round goes to Jason.

"Enough of this. We fought, it's over. What more do you want?" Bruce asks the question firmly, but he isn't entirely sure he is prepared for the possibility of answers, as he has been avoiding Jason since their last encounter. Allowing Jason to fight in Gotham under Batman's terms was one thing, actually dealing with him was something else entirely.

"Stop looking at me and wishing I was the Jason you knew before. You hate who I've become, mainly because it's a reflection on you, that you haven't forgiven yourself. Give it up. 'let it go' as the blonde one says. Or was it the dark haired princess? I don't know, it doesn't matter just—"

"—Fine. Yet, you still make your distaste for me known and take any opportunity to exploit it. Much like the decor of this apartment."

"Hah! A light hearted joke to break the ice. Believe it or not, getting a rise out of you is better than getting nothing at all. Scary how much sense the Joker can make isn't it?"

Bruce glares at Jason and for the first time he genuinely looks at him. Looks him in the worn eyes and face, sincerely taking in the man sitting in front of him.

"Uh oh there's the 'cut the bullshit look'."

Jason is in rare form and wanting for when he pushes too far. However, other than Bruce's shoulder's relaxing, nothing else moves. "If you did't want to help, you wouldn't have even been here when I arrived. Your cooperation is appreciated. I need you one this one."

Jason's pleased cocky look drops from his face. Bruce showing appreciation is the last thing he ever expected to receive from the confusing figure that's been consistently flippant in his life. He couldn't remember the last time it had happened and knew it was pre-death, leaving him to question if it had even happened at all. "Uh…yeah."

"Mind if I move closer?"

Again, Jason wasn't expecting that. Hell hadn't frozen over, he was nearly sure. He manages a small, yet redundant. "Yeah… sure."

Bruce inches over as Jason gingerly sits now next to him unsure of how to behave. Bruce didn't fight him, didn't take the bait earlier with the mention of the Joker. Instead, he reaches into his utility belt and pulls out a folded blue print. He then rushes into his prepared speech, to Jason's surprise, as if he was talking to Robin. That dynamic, ridiculously familiar and yet incredibly absent from Jason's life for years. He wasn't the beloved Dick Grayson or Tim Drake, but still it was happening. Just a slight fraction of him had missed this and Jason would be an asshole to deny it. "There's been an addition installed in the basement of Arkham that is not on the city registry of architecture. It was discovered that Harvey Dent has men on the board who secretly approved the facility. Gordon has a contact inside who informed him there are a few cops, mainly Arkham security guards, on the take through Dent. Not wanting to implicate himself or jeopardize the operation, Gordon felt it best he move things up to a Batman level mission."

"Okay. What am I missing? Isn't this a typical Bat-night for you? Why Red Hood?"

Bruce's thin mouth forms a slight grin. "I was getting to that."

"On the edge of my non Bat-chair." Even though Jason is gratified to have Bruce treating him as an equal at the moment, he can't not be himself.

"Underneath Arkham, it's a fully pressure censored facility monitored twenty-four hours a day. Equipped with bio-signature security to off set any detection from the outside and will trap any unscheduled movement inside. They're doing experiments on prisoners and using a new toxin to make them almost superhuman. Tying them to the unexplained break ins and mass destruction littering Gotham. The only way to get in, would be to cut the whole power to Arkham using a silencer bomb, meaning a massive escape would most likely occur. If Red Hood and the Outlaws could stay above ground to use force on those that try to escape—"

"—Wait! I know solo, I'm.. well… amazing, however even with an Amazonian and the mutated version of the Alien, three against a whole prison of—"

"Guns would be allowed." There is a brief nodal point of silence punctuating the air between the two of them.

"Shit, now you're talking." Jason says not hiding his excitement. "And not bat-guns right? Gun Guns? Real guns."

Bruce nods "I expect you to use whatever force necessary."

Like whiplash Jason wasn't sure he heard him correctly and stares at Bruce mouth wider than the grand canyon. "You know it'll be a blood bath, even with the no kill rule."

Bruce again nods. He looks down at the blue prints on the table, as his voice becomes more solemn. A hint of anger residing. "The prisoners they enhanced shot at a school filled with children. Thirty were injured and another fifteen innocent kids died in the middle of the afternoon. They were taking a math test. War has already been declared. "

Having just returned from a mission, Jason knew roughly of the situation growing in Gotham, but he hadn't heard that. He had no idea. After undoing his white knuckles from anger, he lifts his hand and extends it. "We're in."

Bruce shakes Jason's hand. "Friday night, be at the cave. We'll go from there." He folds up the blueprints, pushes in his chair and goes to leave. As the cowl comes back to Batman's face, the energy snaps right back to how things are presently between them. As if the whole exchange might not have even happened.

Jason stands quickly, his chair making a harsh screech on the floor. "Bruce." he calls forcing a pause in Batman's exit. Jason looks around and shakes his head. "I'm uh, sorry… about the posters…" He says. He wasn't really, but he needed to say it, thought it might make some type of difference.

Bruce returns the look, glances at the aforementioned offensive images, "Me too." he says as he smiles and shuts the door gently behind him.


End file.
